Files
Description
- Mixed-media digital collage
- 18 x 24 inches, vertical
Publication Date
10-2020
Keywords
pandemic, graphic design, digital collage, analog collage, poster, COVID-19, coronavirus, Spanish flu, H1N1
Disciplines
Art and Design | Graphic Design
Recommended Citation
Perez Aragon, Yamilet, "Yamilet Perez Aragon: 1918 & 2020 Pandemic Poster" (2020). COVID-19 Graphic Design: Posters. 24.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/stu_vad_covidcollage/24
Comments
This work is an exploration of the both the pandemic of 1918 and the pandemic of 2020. The message it aims to deliver is the persistence of systemic racism as well as individual racism present in both pandemics. During the Spanish flu, African Americans were already beset by racist barriers to health and medical care, as well as poorer health status. This was worsened by the culmination of racial tensions and white supremacist uprisings in what was called the Red Summer of 1919. Thousands of black families’ houses were torched; the Ku Klux Klan revived its ritualistic lynchings; and many people were forced out of their homes or massacred. All of this and more led to the growth of African American groups and veterans fighting for their rights and defending their communities as police refused to act.
A century later, Black people continue to be victims to the structural barriers in this country that prevent them from adequate health care as they are disproportionately affected by the impacts of COVID-19. Despite being in the middle of a pandemic with higher death rates, African Americans are increasingly rising in protests that may be the only way for to have their voices heard. As more and more cases of police brutality are brought to light and justice is demanded, white supremacists, such as the National Socialist Movement, are taking advantage of the protests to incite violent riots and hate crimes.